Boots on the right track with SmartTrack

Boots have declared war on shrinkage with the deployment of an innovative CCTV system and a sophisticated stock handling system at their Store Service Centre in Nottingham.

The creation of the new Boots Stores Service Centre is due to be completed by early 2009 A significant part of that investment has been made in the form of a Witron Dynamic Picking System. This will allow Boots to move closer to their ambition of being able to despatch 100% of the goods designated for each of its nationwide chain of over 2300 stores on time and in full.

Distribution centres will always strive for what seems to be just out of reach, i.e. a high level of efficiency where the right goods are always in the right bins in the correct quantities so that they can be picked and delivered on time.

If that does not happen, for a retail business such as Boots, the result can be a frustrated store manager, a disappointed customer and a lost sales opportunity. Whether the missing stock has been stolen or just mislaid because of human error, the impact on the profitability of the company is substantial.

The Dynamic Picking System (DPS), part of which is already up and running, reduces the level of human involvement and where goods are handpicked out of bins into despatch totes, a highly sophisticated software programme generates clear visual indicators at each work station as to what bins need to be picked from. The barcode of the stock picked is then scanned to validate the correct item has been selected. All totes are weighed as they travel through the DPS conveyor system to ensure quantities & items are correct with any variances above or below set thresholds being sent to be rechecked.

Boots can therefore look forward to a significant reduction in shrinkage at the Nottingham Stores Service Centre from what in the past could be attributable to innocent staff errors.

There remains a problem however of how to tackle deliberate theft. Whilst thieves may represent a very small minority of the total on-site workforce, their impact on shrinkage can be significant.

As in the challenge of reducing the impact of human error, it's not just the value of goods stolen that needs to be taken into account. Indeed what concerns Boots more is that if certain items are stolen they will not be available to be picked and further down the line a valuable customer cannot make their preferred purchase. For a service orientated company like Boots that type of eventuality is not acceptable.

John Angus, Supply Chain Profit Protection Manager for the Logistics Loss Prevention division of Boots said: "Even though we have highly trained and motivated security officers on site, CCTV was always going to play a major role in helping us keep theft to a minimum. Having a security guard patrolling areas of the warehouse is useful but once he walks away from an area would-be thieves can take their time to help themselves to valuable merchandise."

For a distribution facility the size of the Boots Store Service Centre, John estimated that 1600 cameras would have to be deployed to cover all the gangways and product picking areas.

"Apart from the huge cost, I just don't see how we could have expected our control room operators to effectively manage so many cameras," added John. "There was also the issue of "Big Brother". The 1600 cameras which would have been spaced just a few feet apart from each other would have created an oppressive atmosphere of mistrust. This would have been unfair on the vast majority of Boot's colleagues at the site who are honest and trustworthy."

John researched alternative options and came to the conclusion that the most cost effective and efficient way to visually monitor activity throughout the 413,000sq.ft building, was to install a track based camera system.

Tim Clark, a Loss Prevention Coordinator who is part of John Angus's team said: "One of the advantages of a track based system is that it can be installed high up preventing would be thieves from hiding behind visual barriers such as racking. They also act as a powerful deterrent. The track camera carriage is hidden behind a mirrored enclosure, and is virtually silent running. Even if they know there is a camera within the track the covert operation means subjects are unaware if they are under surveillance or not."

The cameras travel silently at variable speeds along the tracks and can be programmed to stop precisely at programmed locations or manually controlled. Pan, tilt and zoom functionality allows the camera to home in on any activity. Tim added: "We can look down any of the picking aisles and zoom in to see an invoice in someone's hand!"

Working in conjunction with Mansfield based system integrator TIS, Intrepid Security Solutions the UK representatives for SentryVision® SmartTrack were commissioned to install a number of track systems. To date there are eleven tracks installed which are collectively 750 metres long and when the final sections of the Outbound area have been updated, another eight tracks will be added to cover a further 500 metres.

The total project cost of installing all of the tracks is just a fraction of the investment that would have been needed to install a conventional CCTV system with 1600 cameras. Apart from the cost of the 1600 cameras, there would have been huge costs involved in running cables to each camera and a much higher number of digital video recorders would have been required.

There is an added bonus in that the coverage and flexibility achieved when employing the SmartTrack camera system often removes the cost of installing temporary covert cameras in later identified problem areas.

SmartTrack can be programmed for up to six automatic tours and each can have up to 60 preset stop positions. "During the day when activity levels are high, our control room operators are proactive, manually controlling the cameras. During quieter periods we can rely on the random tours to observe and supply high quality video to our digital video recorders for analysis should we need to investigate an incident."

"Although we are primarily investing in the track systems for security reasons, they also provide invaluable management information and as an added bonus assist with health and safety issues," said Tim Clark.

"The system's software for example can direct the camera to where a fire alarm detector may have triggered and the cameras can also monitor colleagues who are working near potentially dangerous machinery to ensure there is compliance with Boots strict on-site safety rules."

The SmartTrack system has already made its mark among the control room operators, one of whom said, "This is without doubt the best and most easy to use CCTV system I have ever worked with."

The effectiveness of the system is expected to make a major contribution to helping Boots keep colleague theft to a minimum and ensure that the ambitious target of a 100% successful pick rate becomes a realistic and achievable goal.

Intrepid Security Solutions
Tel: 0208 893 9922
www.intrepidsecurity.com